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A review by portybelle
The Damselfly by Susi (S.J.I.) Holliday, Susi (S.J.I.) Holliday
5.0
The Damselfly is the last in the Banktoun trilogy and I think the author has truly saved the best for last! DS Davie Gray and DC Louise Jennings are called to investigate the death of bright school pupil Katie Taylor in the small East Lothian town of Banktoun. For a relatively quiet town, there have been a few serious incidents recently, explored in the books Black Wood and Willow Walk. Polly McAllister has been thrown in at the deep end on her first day as a guidance teacher when Katie's death is discovered and announced to the pupils. As well as supporting the traumatised school community she is shocked when a member of staff comes to her with a surprising revelation. Rumours and allegations quickly fly round the community, with some of them ready to take matters into their own hands.
The Damselfly is a book full of suspense and secrets right from the start. Everyone seems to have something to hide, from Katie's boyfriend, to one of her teachers, her brother and even Polly the school counsellor. Often in a fictional small town setting everyone knows every else's business but here it seems almost everyone has been adept at keeping major secrets well hidden. I was hooked as the author carefully left clues, hints and red herrings with my suspicions falling on many of the residents of Banktoun.
Adding to the intrigue were the mysterious blogpost entries on the ThreeWiseMonkeys blog. Who was writing these posts and who was 'SpeakNoEvil' so angry with? And then there is the secret Facebook group rapidly gaining new members, stirring up anger against the person they believe responsible and organising a vigilante mob to take matters into their own hands. The blog, the Facebook group post and the story being told through multiple viewpoints, including those of the police and Katie's boyfriend, gives the reader a great insight into what's going on throughout Banktoun over these few fraught days.
As I said at the start, I think that The Damselfly is the best of the trilogy and given that I really enjoyed the other two, that's high praise. The author keeps up the tension throughout, with so many layers to the story all skilfully drawn together by the end. The characters are all so well depicted with all their strengths and weaknesses and the pace of the book is just perfect. I was completely gripped throughout wondering what had happened to poor Katie and trying to guess what everyone's secrets were and how they linked - or not - to the crime. The Damselfly is a book that will have you compulsively turning the pages right up to the final jaw-dropping ending!
The Damselfly is a book full of suspense and secrets right from the start. Everyone seems to have something to hide, from Katie's boyfriend, to one of her teachers, her brother and even Polly the school counsellor. Often in a fictional small town setting everyone knows every else's business but here it seems almost everyone has been adept at keeping major secrets well hidden. I was hooked as the author carefully left clues, hints and red herrings with my suspicions falling on many of the residents of Banktoun.
Adding to the intrigue were the mysterious blogpost entries on the ThreeWiseMonkeys blog. Who was writing these posts and who was 'SpeakNoEvil' so angry with? And then there is the secret Facebook group rapidly gaining new members, stirring up anger against the person they believe responsible and organising a vigilante mob to take matters into their own hands. The blog, the Facebook group post and the story being told through multiple viewpoints, including those of the police and Katie's boyfriend, gives the reader a great insight into what's going on throughout Banktoun over these few fraught days.
As I said at the start, I think that The Damselfly is the best of the trilogy and given that I really enjoyed the other two, that's high praise. The author keeps up the tension throughout, with so many layers to the story all skilfully drawn together by the end. The characters are all so well depicted with all their strengths and weaknesses and the pace of the book is just perfect. I was completely gripped throughout wondering what had happened to poor Katie and trying to guess what everyone's secrets were and how they linked - or not - to the crime. The Damselfly is a book that will have you compulsively turning the pages right up to the final jaw-dropping ending!